Hong Kong: thousands protest at plan to build new artificial islands

Residents say ‘Lantau Tomorrow Vision’, the city’s largest land reclamation project, is costly and will kill marine life

Thousands of Hong Kong residents protested at the weekend over a government plan to build artificial islands to deal with the city’s severe housing shortage.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam last week announced a plan to reclaim about 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) from the ocean and build infrastructure and transportation links to create a major business district. The islands, which would be Hong Kong’s largest land reclamation project, would eventually house up to 1.1 million residents over the next few decades.